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The most accurate 3D map of our Milky Way galaxy has been revealed by astronomers.
The 3-D map of the Milky Way was created using data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft which has been scanning stars since 2013.
The hope is that the map sheds new light on how the galaxy we call home works.
It allows astronomers to measure acceleration and, hopefully, find out how far the universe has expanded since the dawn of time.
An impressive 1.8 billion stars are on the map.
ESA unveiled the map and uploaded a fascinating YouTube video of how stars move in the Milky Way.
ESA said: “The new data from Gaia has enabled astronomers to trace the various populations of older and younger stars to the very edge of our galaxy – the galactic anticenter.
“Computer models have predicted that the Milky Way’s disk will grow larger over time as new stars are born.
“The new data allow us to see the relics of the 10 billion year old disk and thus determine its smaller extent compared to the current size of the Milky Way disk.
The new 3D map was revealed just as another group of researchers claimed Earth is closer to the black hole at the center of our galaxy than previously thought.
The Milky Way has a huge black hole in the center called Sagittarius A *.
Astronomers at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan used their own data collected over 15 years to create another map of the Milky Way.
They estimated the position of the Earth relative to the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
In 1985, Earth was thought to be 27,700 light years from Sagittarius A *.
The new map places it 25,800 light years away.
Scientists believe Earth would be separated inside a black hole, but there is no need to panic just yet.
25,800 light years is a huge distance, so Earth won’t be anywhere near Sagittarius A * for a long time.
One light year is roughly six trillion miles.
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